SP2 Halo Mass Effect: Tomorrow's Embrace
by Evident Disaster
Summary: The age of new beginnings and new challages what is to happen to the crew of the New Dawn.  2559   Please submit character to email if you wish to join for the story. This is discontinued as of today, the last chapter is a final farewell.
1. Chapter 1

The waiting tide… The coming storm… And the inevitable war…

"Why is it that man must fight? Are we so blinded by the realities of our conflicts? Or is there more to this than we can possibly fathom? In any case, the young wait, the weary and the future are there to be written. But what if we were to change the path? To give another people a chance or to give them something they never had known… what about… hope."

Captain Jacob Hartman, New Dawn, Alpha Novara. 2559. OPERATION: HAMMERFALL

/Military Standard Time 17:00/ UNSC Battle Group 07 -New Dawn- Mythic Class Cruiser in orbit over Alpha Novara I

Today is the day that the crew of the New Dawn and humanity truly wished would never have come, the Old Covenant forces have found a Forerunner facility, or to the point a Forerunner Shield World, exactly two weeks ago Old Covenant Loyalists struck the colonies of Sigma Octanus IV again this time in the same place as the Old Covenant.

The remains after the battle shows a significant deposits of minerals not located on the planet and in fact the dig site revealed more, the battle that followed nearly destroyed the relic the Covenant Loyalists were guarding, though hard to decipher the New Dawns' AI Cyrene deciphered and decrypted the hidden message of the forerunners.

The message or 'prophecy' claimed by the Forerunners had built a hidden world from the flood millennia before the outbreak, but the world was difficult to locate as the facility had been long forgotten through their history, the facility was also where many creations of the Forerunners had stored for safe keeping.

And now it had been found once more, though this was not an easy task, the Covenant had them tailing behind attempting to drive their focus elsewhere while the Covenant looked for the ancient star maps that had been left hidden on multiple worlds.

And now the chase was over, but the end wasn't, on the bridge of the New Dawn a tall figured man in his twenties wearing his standard issue naval suit with matching coloured insignia stood out looking at the holo-tank, he asked to Cyrene as he bit down on an antique smoke pipe.

"Cyrene, I have to know, did we lose them?"

"I think we both know the answer." She replied as she materialised on the projector.

"How'd they…" Cyrene interjected. "Get here first? I had limited FTL space and short time before they jumped. And the Covenant slip-space has always been faster even with the new engines and upgrades they just stayed ahead."

Jacob looked to the world below, beautiful, almost like Reach. Then again home was never too far away, the view also showed the Covenant cruiser sitting above the planet's surface, and the surrounding space of their previous engagement, there were a few UNSC ships in orbit wrecked by Covenant firepower.

All that now remained was the New Dawn and its escort attachment corvettes and external rig, the battle for Alpha Novara had finished only a few hours ago, the loss was high and now the crew was too exhausted to continue, the last remanent of the their battle group of twenty.

The Covenant had lost most of their ships in the engagement but still had a cruiser and frigate still running and these were bad odds already, but the crew also knew of their little surprise for the Covenant.

"Cyrene I think it's to wake the crew." She asked. "All of them?"

"Yes all of them."

New Dawn Cryogenic Bay 5

Down in the Cryo bay the console for the bay from the bridge lit up, the ensign in charge read the orders. [Cyrene to Cryo bay, begin procedure {initiate cold start} heat the pods up and prepare Spartan IV unit 7.] The ensign quickly rushed to the command console.

"Engineer Williams to the command, bring the pods to cold start were going live in 5 minutes."

Down in the bay the engineers squared the non-essentials away as the pods covered in frost melted, the sudden hissing of releasing air and gas and any other person knew to clear away.

"Their hot, blowing the pins in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1…"

The pods of the select few opened with steam venting out, now all that was needed to do was the visual and vitals check before the Spartans were released, there were five near identical armoured masses inside of the pods, some were camouflage coloured and others were matte black, and some looked like ancient samurai warriors.

But all in all they were Spartan IV unit 7.

IV-021 Thom, IV-084 Mitchel, IV-A14 Winter, IV-A64 Caroline and IV-017 Jonathan all awoke from their cryo sleep, though the uncomfortable from the sudden wake up they were ready to get going, and more so when the evaluation were getting done, but the captains orders for shake down before they were dismissed.

017 Jonathan felt the static coming off of his MKVII armour as his shields began their quick recharge the new shield enhancements from ONI since the end of the Covenant war, elites were reluctant to hand over some sharing of technology to humanity as well as UNSC but there wasn't much to share either than AI tech and a few other things, but since the treaty of New Mombasa memorial site humanity has come a long way.

He stepped out of the shield station and to the bench where the others were sitting, though it was impressive that a long and rather small bench could possibly hold three other Spartans it was one of the few new things used by the UNSC, specifically the Poly-Carbon iridium alloy used in more and more things including parts of the Spartan armour.

The improvements of other things like better ship armour and new shield generators for UNSC vessels and civilian UEG and ICF (Independent Colonial Federation) which had vastly improved past relations, the new slip-space drives and trans-light communications has also been added.

But none have had the better of all the new upgrades such as Spartan IV, ONI had survived but something's from their past came back, people eventually figured out the SPARTAN projects and openly opposed the idea in the courts with the ICF.

The project then became a public fiasco four years back with the launch of IV, the means of justifying the creation of super human weapons by using the innocence of children horrified many colonists and many demanded the project to be closed and the children compensated for their lost lively hoods. Though this was nearly impossible as most were indoctrinated into service and they had lost their families, in the Spartan III case that was not IV, the families had signed an agreement in which their children made their choice to leave, many were sceptical and the children themselves were interviewed and assessed on this agreement, all but a few said they were uncomfortable and the few that said so told them. "If this is helps everyone now and later, my mum and dad as well then, I will do it."

This had justified the means in which these children were indoctrinated into service, not by brainwashing but minor subliminal messages and reasoning, most of the children were actually healthy and intelligent enough to understand what they were doing. Even so human rights activists and colonists still opposed the use of children, but the project still went through in 2555, the ONI did release the program or just snippets on what they had improved upon to increase the life expectancy of the children.

The program training itself was reviewed by the public over the course of their training and the families were kept in touch, but still they had to be isolated to ensure no distractions in later years of their lives and to make sure that they didn't rebel against the UNSC.

But enough reminiscing, Jonathan had a job to do, with the last of the team's status green they moved off to the bridge for their briefing, as they navigated their way across the 1.75km Heavy Mythic class cruiser, they saw the usual routine for before ground operations and preparation.

ODST rushing about with their armour and gear on, the famous flaming skull insignia on their black shoulder pads, and the rush of marines getting suited for combat, yes this was the daily life of the Spartan, the pelicans and albatross drop-ships getting prepped for combat drop and the new Sabre fighters that came out of production.

The final piece was the window they passed as they approached the bridge, out in the vacuum of space sat four corvettes that provided the extra defences for the New Dawn, though they were actually hooked up with a rig against the sides of the New Dawn.

The rigs were hexagonal dock work structures added for quick refits to small assault pack vessels going into full scale planetary assault, then again the New Dawn was doing the very thing though they were only to engage a Covenant frigate while distracting the Cruiser.

The corvettes themselves were unlike that of the older variants that were on earth, these were refitted with shields and extra space for more shuttles and more weaponry, standard with 4 Archer missile pods, 2 Heat missile pods, 4 rail cannons and a dozen point defence turrets the UNSC corvettes had more firepower than that of a frigate, this included a smaller but more faster firing MAC.

Jonathan and the other Spartans arrived at the bridge, moving past the rush to get the ship prepared for the first stage of the assault the bridge crew worked tirelessly to ensure the function of the ship, but there was one person that the team knew to meet, Captain Hartman.

"Captain Hartman, Sir." Jonathan said with a salute. "At ease, soldier."

The Spartan team just stood watching, and then the captain continued. "As you know were sending you and the first company of Colonel William's ODST and the third Armour support to capture the relic site, meanwhile the New Dawn will engage the frigate and cruiser in orbit. This has to be done fast and efficiently, understood?"

A chorus of 'Sir' rang through the bridge.

"Good, we have to capture the relic point and then extract it before the Loyalists figure what to make of it, this is our first priority, I hope to see you all back, Cyrene."

Cyrene gave in her tactical analysis of the operation. "Spartans, we have three main points of entry, first is the open area between the structure and the open field, this area funnels out into the back door of the Covenant positions, but there is heavy AA and we can't supply enough Hawks and Sparrow gunships to alleviate the resistance until the AA guns are down."

The hologram highlighted the areas necessary for the operation, and the entry pints to the AA guns, there also highlighted supposed enemy movements within the area.

"We'll have to strike hard and fast and you are the best at what you do." With this the Spartans headed down to prepare.

18:29- 1minute to begin operation

Jonathan and his fellow Spartans were strapped into their seats, now all they had to do was the final countdown, pre-flight check all systems are good, Mitchel-084 was the pilot of the team and the engineer, he had been invaluable in combat and their technical problems.

With the counter going down Mitchel had to concentrate on the drop, any second, five, four, three, two, and one.

The thrusters kicked in propelling the drop-ship down at sonic speeds to the planet, as suddenly the space around them was lit up, MAC fire form the New Dawn exchanged fire with the Covenant frigate and the corvettes. From Mitchel's windscreen he could see ordnance detonating across the space, Jonathan held tight along with his fellow Spartans as they hit the atmosphere, the sudden shaking outside the cabin as they quickly exited the lower atmosphere suggested the AA were active.

"Damn, evasive action, look out the LZ is hot, repeat LZ is hot."

The Spartans unbuckled and stood facing the side doors of the drop-ship, the new pelican had installed side doors with mounted weapons to quickly deploy troops and recon and shock trooper teams.

Looking outside as the doors opened, revealed dozens of pelicans and albatross drop-ships deploying tanks and Warthogs, Jonathan walked to the back and popped open the hatch, the back had one transport hog.

Descending the team exited the ship, with the Mitchel included, the co-pilot took the controls as the team made land fall, filing out one by one the warthog dropped to the ground with them.

The sudden impact of the environment was definitely hostile as the sun baked the ground they stood upon, the sand filled the desolate landscape around them, and this was reinforced with the sudden rushing sounds of plasma fire and rifles and missiles flying through the air.

The battle on the field below to the first AA guns revealed heavily fortified positions and troop concentrations; Jonathan walked to the edge of the high ground the stood upon and said this to his team.

"If they want war, we'll give them war."

The rush of fighters over head with the main force catching up to push down, he knew what he meant and he really meant this.


	2. Chapter 2

CH2 Revile

Orbit over Alpha Novara 'Origin' Forerunner installation

New Dawn 18:35

The crew stumbled, three direct hits to the shields and a glancing strike from torpedoes, any one would have been knocked about, the crew focused back on the battle, the odds were not in their favour but firepower was.

Gunnery Sargent ordered. "Get firing solutions on that frigate and bring us about for broadsides, it's time to show them our teeth."

As the frigate came within the range the New Dawn's port length revealed a dozen stored broadside rail batteries, each charged, they faced off with the Covenant pulse cannons. "Fire all."

The sudden shake rattle across the Dawn as a volley of superheated and accelerated rounds of tungsten ploughed their way into the Covenant Vessels port side, the rounds decimated the crew throwing shrapnel and debris from the volley.

Then they returned fire, though the first volley from the Dawn had weakened their resolve to fight the Brute shipmaster enraged ordered for anything to return fire upon the Dawn, the few pulse lasers scorched and melted sections of armour plating and other defences it didn't stop the second volley.

The second wave ended the engagement quickly and effectively as Cyrene took control for removal of the enemy frigate, the second volley thrashed the core of the frigate apart; detonating the engines and plasma drives, the frigate vanished in a magnificent display of bluish fire and purple debris.

Jacob watched as the loyalist Covenant heavy cruiser approached their position, the game was on, the Dawn was built for ship to ship combat, but against a heavy Covenant cruiser the chances of victory was slim.

Still Jacob was determined to get past with his ship in one piece, the Covenant cruiser of course was much slower than the Dawn and they still had active shields, there was still a way to get past this.

"Cyrene prepare forward shields were going to have to play a little 'chicken' as much as I hate to do it." Cyrene commented. "Oh, of course, if the charge doesn't kill us the little show probably would."

The New Dawn faced the Covenant heavy cruiser and made course corrections to charge them head first, as they approached it seemed as though the crew of the Covenant cruiser was happy to oblige as they accelerated.

Jacob watched as the sheer size of their ship became apparent, the dawn and her escort corvettes attached with the external hull rig was a length of 1.75km long and the heavy cruiser was over 3km this definitely meant a big difference in how this would end.

"Wait for my signal…" The two ships were just over a few hundred km apart now; just as it reached 10km. "Now, full port and let her go."

The ships barely grazed each other as they passed, the New Dawn dropped their surprise, a cluster of NATULIS nuclear mine deployed and penetrated the energy shields of the Covenant cruiser, there was about 2.5 minutes and over 120km apart when the nukes detonated.

Different to the frigate, the mines caused a sub-space field distortion, tearing the ship apart with slip-space energy; the shockwave that followed Cyrene anticipated struck with enough force that made the earlier barrage feel like a gentle breeze. Jacob was thrown forward with half the crew as the wave hit aft and moved around, the crew of the Dawn was tossed about even with the inertial dampeners and anti-gravity plating, the wave was intense and frighteningly powerful.

It was about five minutes until the crew managed to get back unto their feet, the world came back into focus, or in their case the galaxy. Jacob had been sure they had been blown apart if they failed he looked out the bridge the crew managing to get up.

"Cyrene, status report." The hologram of the blue woman appeared again. "Sir, it seems as though we have survived."

He replied. "That's good to hear, what's the status with the ship?"

"Good, we are soon to be operating again within a few minutes; the damage sustained is pretty superficial." Jacob switched through the system on all critical functions of the ship; there had no significant damage either than the shields being cooked.

"What is the status of Spartan team 7?"

Cyrene disappeared and then reappeared with a hologram of the operation of how far the teams had progressed on the field. "They have successfully managed to penetrate the enemy AA lines and have taken to the structure; we will have control very shortly."

18:55 Forerunner structure 'Epitaph' top level

Jonathan ducked his head down as plasma fire seared by this visor, the Covenant have put up a heavy defence and very stubborn defence but not so much as it didn't help against five Spartans, Mitchel had been giving ground support via a Covenant locust.

And the others were on the different platforms trying to clear the brute guards and troops encircling the damn prophet of Sanctification who decided to have activated the damn structure, the marines were covering the lower floors and pushing, soon the prophet would have nowhere left.

But Jonathan wasn't going to let the marines slow him down, he looked beyond the cover, the prophet trying to access the controls and furiously typing, Jonathan had more than a three dozen between him and the prophet.

Rushing out of cover he drew his BR55 and 1 multi grenade launcher, taking aim he launched half a dozen rounds into the air, landing smack in the middle of the corridor. The brutes and grunts had little time before they were incinerated by the explosions, a few that did survive were quickly dispatched by Jonathan as he came out of cover, he made his way past the first pillar and another two more to go.

As he advanced more brutes and grunts as well as jackals stood between him and his target, then a brute chieftain and his honour guard moved to stop him, side stepping the guards and ramming the chieftain, Jonathan knocked him back a bit and quickly swung around behind the chieftain, grabbing hold of the back ceremonious armour he jumped on to get a hold on the neck, then in a quick motion drew his combat knife and sliced it across.

The brute's blood splattered down as he fell limp, the other brutes were stunned the demon had killed the chieftain before they could react. They hesitated as they drew their weapons, but the supersonic crack of a 50cal drew their attention as one pack mate was missing part of his jaw, the pack turned about to see three demons ready for a fight.

The sudden chatter of gunfire and screams of the brutes drowned out the slow walk Jonathan now took as he approached the Prophet of Sanctification, the prophet could only wait as he said to the few guards left between him and the demon.

"Why bother can you not see, we are fools blinded by false faith and salvation, and he is the harbinger of cold truth and death."

The grunts retreated behind a corner dropping their weapons across the battle grounds hundreds ran away or surrendered, in the tower the prophet waited for death, his executioner only a few feet away.

Jonathan saw the retreating grunts and jackals, he moved to face the prophet who only watched, the two guards on his side moved to intervene until… a cackling of energy and a heavy body materialised behind them, and in a swing the heads of the two guards fell before their bodies.

There now stood a familiar white armoured alien, his mandibles open his retinas gold; he turned to face the prophet as Jonathan moved beside him.

Jonathan smirked behind his helmet. "Commander Thel'an Vadamee, it is good to see you again."

The Spec ops commander had joined the team when they had arrived on a world known as Divine Prosperity, the Loyalists had attacked the Sangheili colony and nearly destroyed everything, the team was surprised that Thel'an had actually joined; he had a grudge against the Prophet.

The armoured eight foot elite replied with revenge in his voice. "As do I Spartan, this is the end of you false prophet."

Within a flash he the energy sword struck the prophet in the torso and twisted it back out, the body fell limp.

"The day is ours; we must retrieve the sacred artefact before the other prophets fleets arrive."

The two walked to the holographic console, Jonathan pressing down the console lit up, suddenly the complex tower started rising, it was only then did they realise.

"By the gods, this structure is the artefact, quickly take control and tell your brothers and sisters to board before we launch."

Jonathan signalled the team, each of the Spartans manned the ancient vessels controls, on the lower level below the Spartans the ODST and marines had wondered why the Covenant had surrendered and now the tower was shaking.

They all held tight as the top of the tower released, a sword like shape ship came from the tower a few hundred meters across and below the vessel started ascending, Jonathan did have some sense of control but not enough to keep it stable, and he signalled the New Dawn.

19:11 Bridge, New Dawn

Jacob received the hail from Spartan team 7. "Cyrene bring us about full, we need to recover them."

The New Dawn turned about to the small Forerunner artefact; it wasn't up until they reached boarding distance when a difficulty occurred. White ripples of slip-space poured open not too far from the planet, bringing forth a cluster of large purple ships.

"Captain we have company!" Jacob couldn't believe his eyes; the sight of more than three hundred and fifty ships had appeared on the view screen of the New Dawn.

"Cyrene, get us to Slip-space now!" She replied apologetically. "Unable slip-space drives are still charging at 85% still need another five minutes."

"We don't have five minutes." The Covenant fleet was shown on a course correction towards them.

"Sir, we may have a solution." Jacob turned to see the face of Thom-021.

"What do you mean?"

The display showed the layout of the Forerunner ship.

"We can use the slip-space engines of the Forerunner vessel it has a quantum core engine that doesn't need to charge, it'll be risky though, then again sir, staying here is to."

Jacob felt the ship rock from external hits. "Then we're going to have to risk it, charge her up and dock with the Dawn, Cyrene will take control and calculation."

"Affirmative, sir, we'll begin docking." The com went dark.

The Forerunner vessel hastily docked with the New Dawn, and then the final procedure before their jump.

"Sir ready when you are."

Jacob timed. "Ready for jump in 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Mark."

The sudden jolt from the New Dawn as it hit trans-light speeds; the Dawn started shaking in places from the sudden stress of the portal, but Jacob could barely stay conscious as he watched the ship enter the blinding maw…

Part2


	3. Chapter 3

CH3: The Endless

(To all my readers thanks you guys for the 11,111 views and hope you have a wonderful school holidays (AUS) and maybe some others I really don't know about.)

(Sorry I couldn't get this done sooner.)

Time: Unknown/ Place Unknown/ -

The 'New Dawn' came out of slip-space at uncontrollable speeds, the ship and it's thousands of crewmen were knocked back into reality as the ship made its final transition into normal space.

Jacob in the bridge asked. "Cyrene, what is our status?"

"Not looking good commander, outer layers of the hull were damaged in the slip-space anomaly and we are dead in the water, the engines from 1-6 and external boosters are on minimal functions, as well as the shields."

"So we're sitting ducks?" He said.

"Give or take the fact that we can still barely function, that is a yes."

"What about the Forerunner ship?"

Cyrene responded with pulling up an image of the ship.

"Damage is mostly superficial, though there is a power failure, the ship is completely dead."

Jacob hoped the team survived.

"Send in a dispatch of pelicans and have the ship towed in, we can't leave 7 to be hanging in space."

"Right sir, sending out recovery teams in five."

XXXXX

Jonathan and his fellow Spartans hadn't really expected the ship to suddenly swing them out this far into space, from what they could tell from the displays, the ship had travelled into subspace and then exited into an anomalous regions of space.

This being said, the team wasn't so sure how to get back to UNSC space, the Forerunner ship had burned out its core and the trans-light drive, the New Dawn and its crew were now stranded in the deepest reaches of space.

Assuming they were still in their own galaxy of course.

The pelicans attached themselves to the outer hull as they began to tow the now shot, Forerunner ship back to the Dawn; Jonathan had never considered this either very lucky or very unfortunate to the single fact. They were still alive and still here so that is good, but also bad, the ship was now stuck beyond known space and maybe further, without rescue or any chance of return.

'But that aside what do we do now?'

There was nothing else to do but search around space, and if by some miracle make it back. But this was unlikely, Jonathan looked out the pelican's rear hatch as the ship came into view, the newly crafted ship was one of the finest of the UNSCDF made for the protection of the outer colonies from further attacks by Old Covenant Loyalists.

And now after chasing the Prophet of Sanctification they had saved the UNSC and colonies from another dangerous plot to annihilate them. This though hadn't put his mind at ease.

The pelican finally touched the metal deck of the New Dawn, the flight crews started to get out of cover to assess the Forerunner ship and bring it into the hangar. Jonathan and Spartan team 7 made their way up to see the Captain.

XXXXX

On the bridge Jacob was dealing with more than he could handle the fact that now the ship was stranded out in space without the proper details or return back into UNSC or colonial space. The Spartans debriefing revealed a now that this was more than just a simple accident.

"So, no way back and now no way out." He said.

"Affirmative sir, there is no chance of return unless we could repair the Forerunner designed engine, but we have no clue on how to do it."

Cyrene popped up on the display next to him. "I don't think I would be of any help either, there is just too much to calculate and remake of the thing, it would take a millennium, and I think we forgot our spare Forerunner engines back at home." She said with a tinge of humour.

Jacob wondered, and then asked. "Cyrene, we don't know how long it would take but can our scanners find the nearest habitable or habited system?"

"Yes sir, I can send subspace signals to each star system and see if there is anything but this might be over a few days."

"Do it."

Jacob looked to the Spartans and said.

"Dismissed Spartans, we'll call you when we need you."

"Sir, yes sir."

The Spartans filed out of the bridge down to the lower decks, they needed to prepare for anything, and that was exactly what they were worried about.

XXXXX

Ship board time: 11:30AM

5 days after jump.

The crew had been waiting for any good news and it did arrive, there was a signal far out in a cluster of stars, and from what Cyrene got it had habitable planets but not too sure of life signs.

But this was better than no news at all, the chances of survival were now better than simply wandering space aimlessly.

Transit was to finish soon and the crew prepared to venture into unknown territory, but still some people had to keep on their toes.

Jonathan looked into the barrel of his MA9A, it had some new adjustments added since the war with the Covenant, this included a mass driver installed, though it was small it had definite punch, the ammo was different though, smaller than the original 7.62 x 51mm bullets fired.

This allowed for much more ammo to be taken onto fields and granted wielders more freedom to carry more weapons. Jonathan was used to the use of the old MA5 series and was fonder of the old heavy recoil, though the newer weapons were faster and easier to maintain, he found it hard to believe in such short time all things had changed.

He finished field stripping and cleaning his rifle, and was watching his fellow Spartans. Winter as beautiful as she was watching the slip-space pass by, she had always looked into the endless waves of light; she seemed content with separating herself from the team though without much reason. Thom was sparring with Mitchel or more like practice, Thom was teaching the art of 'How not to get knocked over by a grunt' to Mitchel who had an expertise in hijacking enemy vehicles and searching through crates.

And finally Caroline who was in the other room, she was talking to the ODST support team she had, though every time she talked it either ended up with someone playing cards and then some drinks.

But all in all Jonathan saw this as another day with his family.

"So are we preparing or are we procrastinating?" Haley said as she entered the room.

The Spartans stood up and acknowledged her entrance.

"At ease, you know I don't like military formalities when I come to see you all."

She moved over to one of the room's large windows watching slip-space go by. "We have an assignment we need you to be prepared for."

Thom was the first to ask. "What kind of assignment?"

She looked over to him and said. "You'll know once we're at our destination, either than that you do need to also talk to Thel'an, he's on the crew deck, this will be all."

Haley forwarded out of the room, though the short talk was enough to get the Spartans attention to specific details she just left out.

But now was not the time, if it came along the way they would deal with it, but now they had to see Vadamee.

Crew deck level 5 section A.

The walk through the Mythic class cruiser was easy, just walking down to the crew deck to see Vadamee was simple but there was a lot of navigating. The ship was vast and huge honey combs that ran through the ship can sometimes be hard to navigate, but there were handy lines on the wall that indicated specific points and details of the ship.

When they found Vadamee he was talking to an old friend. James Enders or Short sight, he was the ODST built for CQB and RR though he had a problem with long range combat, he had the best skills for CQB, this included blowing up ships.

He was in a debate about the use of plasma VS frag in a hangar bay, but it seemed Thel'an was giving a bit of a fight.

"I keep telling you, the UNSC standard frag can clear out pockets within a 2.5 m radius if not more but that depends…"

"No, the UNSC standard is supposed to be a five second charge with an average weight of explosives at 300gm of…"

"That's what I mean, there are more different standards of explosives than there were before, and the 300gm is around 450gm of ODST standard HE…"

"Gentlemen, I presume we're not interrupting anything are we?" Thom said as he pointed to the team.

Enders bumbled a bit and replied. "Sir no sir, me and Vadamee were just debating the use of different compounds in the tactical use of clearing out areas, I should be going."

"Carry on trooper, we'll see you later."

Enders walked out to his quarters as the Spartans began their briefing with Vadamee.

Thom asked. "So we need to know, why did Haley want us to meet with you?"

"We have a dilemma, when didn't tell the crew what exactly we might have discovered, and Dr Haley had talked to me about where we might be, if she is correct in theory, we are in either another galaxy or another dimensional universe." He said, this is what the Spartans were not entirely expecting as an answer.

"Wait, you're saying we're much further than just, oh…" Mitchel said in a faraway voice, he did technically have family back on Vestige and on Reach.

"So, this is what we aren't supposed to tell the crew about?" Caroline said, though it did catch some of the crew's attention. This was hushed by Vadamee with a harsh stare.

"We're not supposed to say this until we need to, until then quiet, but there was another purpose. The construct of your vessel has discovered a faint UNSC transponder signal, specifically why we are heading towards the system, we identified it as the CFV-88 Spirit of Fire."

The Spartans were surprised as well as confused.

"How the hell did a ship that old end up in another universe?" Thom said.

"That is why we are to investigate; we cannot afford to lose some form of help if we can receive it, and also there was another signal besides the Spirit, we presume it is some kind of species, but we aren't sure, we have detected a number of strange dark energy signatures but we cannot be sure."

"So you need us to look for you?"

"Not you, me and Haley will accompany you and one squad of ODST."

The team knew if Haley was going it meant something big, especially if it was in her unique planet side gear, which none of the crew ever wanted to talk about, ever again."

"Then let's get to work." Was all Mitchel could say as they left for EVA and planet side.

XXXXX

CFV-88 Spirit of Fire

-Anomaly detected-

Date 1/12/2531Time: 17:09

-Unknown anomaly at 300m starboard bearing X.15 mark 0.9-

-Alert energy spike increase. Emergency protocol initiated. Crew revival initiated.-

Serina awoke; her alert protocols had woken her out of minimal setting to preserve her life expectancy, though it was cut short. She quickly caught up to speed with the alert and anomaly on approach, though it had been a while she was surprised that they had come across something.

"Hmm, what have we here?" She brought up the visual on the display.

There a swirling vortex of dark energy and cascading light, it looked more like a storm in space than an anomaly.

She quickly processed the reading and projected outcomes of entering into the storm, there was a distinct possibility that the ship could survive, but she want willing to risk the crew.

She materialised into the cryo bay.

"Captain Wake up, something has happened."

James Cutter was just waking out of cryo sleep, his body ached, the months of cryo sleep were wearing off, and he was slightly of balance and focused to ask.

"What is it Serina?"

"Unknown anomaly sir, it's on an approach off our starboard."

"Distance to the anomaly?" He asked. "Less than a hundred meters." Was all Serina could say.


	4. Chapter 4

All caught up in the eye of the storm.

Please enjoy because I have put 2 straight days of effort.

(This was WIP, this is not the final product, please not that this will be closing to vote.)

The New Dawn made her approach to the system and her final leg to the distress signal of the Spirit, the view of a planet green and gold, the Dawn stood out from orbit, black and grey it looked like it didn't belong.

Jacob moved about the bridge, he and the technicians were calculating the correct landing trajectory for the Dawn.

"Cyrene, can we get a specific lock on that transponder signal?"

Cyrene materialised on her holo-tank. "No sir, there is too much ground interference, I am detecting a number of energy signals none are natural and most are on the geo synchronous orbit… wait unknown signals breaking orbit and are beginning to approach"

Jacob looked out the view screen to see what looked like and curved shaped fleet, the fleet had matching colours of blue and white and grey they began forming a rough attack formation.

He ordered. "Cyrene, bring the shields up."

It was done so, just as the first volley from the unknown fleet impacted, the crew was shaken as the impacts rocked the ship.

"Cyrene, what's our status."

"There were five impacts along the length of the ship, shields held and stopped their rounds from causing damage."

"Return fire and deploy Vince and his corvettes around the Dawn."

"Aye, Sir."

The Dawn brought her MAC to bear at the attackers, another wave impacted but the Dawn's shields held, and the deployment of the corvettes soon changed this.

"On my mark… fire."

The MACs from the Dawn and Vince flared to life, the 600kgs from the corvettes exited along with the Dawn's 900kg tungsten round at 50% of the speed of light. The enemy suddenly panicked as the wave ripped apart 9 of their 21 ships, they began withdrawing, but the Dawn and Vince continued to hound them.

Finally the attackers escaped to FTL, Jacob managed to relax, and he turned to face the tactical display.

"Cyrene let seven go down with the 21st marines and send along the warthogs, bring us about over the location then deploy, if there are AA tell them to remove first and ask questions later."

"Right, dialling in Seven and the marines, should I call Haley to give the good news?"

"No." He said deftly.

XXXXX

1day earlier

The Spirit of Fire came through a storm of swirling energy, the arcs stretching across the bow to stern, if Cutter had seen the abyss it would most likely be now.

"Serina what's happening?"

"Unsure, no power surge, but energy is being directed here, large concentrations, though I am unsure as to how to say this, we are no longer in our universe."

"What?"

"Yes I know, strange considering everything, it seems more like a concentration of subspace though with a mixture of something different, I'd say a black hole."

"So we're inside a black hole?"

"Well technically it isn't a black hole but a tear in the universe."

Something's weren't getting better for Cutter.

"Can we bring the ship out of it?" He asked.

"Yes, though it will require a lot of force."

"How much force would we need?"

Serina began her calculations and concluded.

"A single missile launched at a horizontal axis ahead of us and detonated."

Cutter thought she was joking.

"That doesn't seem like very much."

"No that is because the space here is unstable, and a single missile is capable of causing this strange build of energy that is surrounding the ship is like a bubble, so we have to simply pop that bubble."

"Alright then, we might as well give it a try, get a missile locked and ready, but tell the crew to brace for impact, we have no idea what will happen when we fire."

The solution was locked in and prepared to launch the missile, Cutter watched then ordered.

"Fire away."

The missile flew off and in a spilt second detonated with the outer wall of energy, though to everyone's surprises it simply vanished.

"Serina what…" He never did finish his sentence.

The ship made a sharp jerk, and then a force of energy threw the crew forwards.

Cutter could feel the entire ship reverberate, and then a sudden stop threw him forwards on to the deck.

1hr later…

Cutter eyes were blurry; the sudden feeling of being thrown back then forwards does not help with age, his eyes came back into focus, the crew was just getting to their feet as well.

"Serina are you there?" He called.

"Here Captain." She replied.

"What is our status?" He asked.

She materialised, appearing to be fine from the transition.

"More or less bad, we have arrived at our destination."

"We're back?"

"No we reached the safety of normal space, and we aren't exactly safe."

"Why?"

"Contacts on approach, arriving from within the system, there is a safe zone but it might be risky."

"Where are they?" He asked as he looked to the bridge view.

"Seven hundred thousand meters a stern to our current location and fast on intercept course."

"Where's the safe zone?" He asked.

"Located on the planet below us, though there is a high concentration of EM fields."

Cutter didn't like being the one to run away so fast but the crew came first.

"Get us down there, and get the rest of the crew out of cryo, we're going to need everyone on their feet."

"Right waking the crew, should I give them a warm welcome?"

"It's probably the best thing to do." He said.

The ship began rapidly descending towards the planet.

XXXXX

Present location: Unknown

"Spartan on the ground, we're heading to the Spirit of Fire." Jonathan said as he moved in with the marines.

"Spartan, do you have the location?" Thel'an asked.

"Soon, we should be right on top of it."

The warthogs made their way across the dusty ground; the planet they were on was a dust bowl, heading across the dust plain under the shadow of a canyon, the teams approached the signal.

"Sir detecting something, can't get fix on location, estimate 500m in range."

"Right, slow down if you get within 100m and then proceed on foot, if you find them signal by flare."

"Roger that sir."

Jonathan's team made their way through the canyon, the sand hills and tall cliff faces were the only things he could see, the chances of locating a 2.5km ship is possible but with so much cover, it would take more than enough time to lose them.

"Sir we're picking up a signal concentration, were very close at least 150, maybe around the next bend." The marine said.

"Right we'll set a signal flare." He said pulling out the flare pistol.

"Signal one away." He fired, a pop from the launcher and a blue flare soared into the sky.

Now approaching the signal the team unmounted from their warthog, Jonathan stepped out and drew out his ILD (Integrated Laser Designator) to locate the ship and mark it out for the New Dawn to send in a message to them.

Walking ever closer to the signal, stepping out across the field they made their way till 100m, then looking about they saw something, a part of an engine or the rear of one, they were off and the ship seemed running on silent.

"Get about troops we're heading in."

Thel'an was looking cautiously; he stayed close until they finally made it around the bend where the ship was located, his eyes focused as they entered the silhouette of the ship.

It was there they saw the Phoenix class colony ship. The white metal plating the blocky but familiar design, Jonathan and the team had only seen these types of ships during the Reach reconstruction plan, and those were the refits, he had never seen one this old.

"Sir we are receiving a signal from the Spirit."

"This is Captain James Cutter CFV-88 Spirit of Fire, who am I speaking to?"

"This is Lieutenant Jonathan-017 Spartan IV; we have received your distress and responded, what is your status?"

"Green lieutenant, we didn't expect any UNSC ships out here though."

"There is an explanation but not here or now, the ship the New Dawn is now in geo-synchronous orbit, we have removed hostiles and are awaiting to approach the surface, the New Dawn will land not far, other search teams are also en route."

"Right we'll let you in, approach the lower hangar we'll send a pelican."

XXXXX

The crew of the Spirit of fire was relieved to know that there was help, the captain and Spartan Red team was heading down to the hangar, the drop-ship arrived, landing with a solid thud, the engines cooled and the hatch opened.

The lieutenant stepped out with a marine squad and a…

'Elite' Jerome thought.

The Spartan II sprinted so fast it was a blur, drawing out his pistol the Spartan was about to grab the elite behind the squad, until he was stopped.

Another armoured soldier nearly in equal height grabbed Jerome by the waist and tackled him.

"No one is attacking anyone." The other Spartan said as he pinned the gun to the ground.

The other Spartan II were about to react as well, though they paused at the sight of the two.

"Damn it, stand down soldier." He ordered.

Jerome got back up with the Spartan IV.

"Maybe there is a misunderstanding?" Thel'an said.

The captain was trying to grasp the situation with an open and cool mind, the others in the hangar were unsure as to how to act with the elite.

"Stand down; we have no need to cause problems." Cutter said to the marines.

The crew didn't seem to stand down but hostilities didn't seem to go any further.

Anders walked into the hangar and seemingly froze at the sight of the elite.

"Well looks like we have an interesting visitor." Serina said.

XXXXX

"So the war is over, and elites are our allies and the covenant now lives alongside us?" Cutter asked.

"Well most of the old covenant no longer exists; they're independent nations of their own choice that formed along with our own." Jacob explained.

The talk about the Covenant War was not something simple, the fact that humanity was rebuilding and the war was over, and the rise of the UNSC in the galactic community.

Jerome and red team kept an eye on the Spartan IV and Thel'an, they were unsure as how they were to react, the Spartan II no longer existed and that they were listed as KIA, the also shock of meeting someone from their future was not something easy as well.

They were all inside the conference room of the New Dawn which had set herself down on the field next to the Spirit of Fire.

XXXXX

Anders was on the ship but she was examining the Forerunner ship and talking with the Covenant Engineers, she had a good understanding thanks to the translators but had no idea of how advanced the recovered ship was.

But it was obvious it was not going anywhere fast, the slip-space core had overloaded and there was little chance of building another trans-illumine-drive that the covenant had never reached.

"With all the things in the universe, they just don't seem to get better." She said to herself.

"Well it's not like it's going to get better." A fairly familiar voice said.

Anders turned to face a woman who seemed more like…

"Halsey, what are you doing here?"

The woman looked quickly baffled of her being called Anders ex co-worker.

"I'm not Halsey, my name is Elizabeth Haley, and despite what other people say about me is untrue of my mysterious origin."

Anders was now the one to be confused at the situation.

"Well, my apologies, you just seem so much like her."

"No problem, I usually get that a lot." She said.

"So what do you do here on the ship?" Anders asked.

"I monitor the Spartan IV program and work on the AI development team, I have extensive knowledge in Forerunner technology and artefacts, and this made me a prime candidate for help."

"So then, what did the ship do that you are stranded here?"

"The ship core detonated as we entered slip-space, the Spartan team never knew how to fly ships, but they improvise." She gave a half chuckle.

"They sure do." Anders added.

XXXXX

Jacob had sent his repair team with rig equipment to reconstruct the damage that was inflicted on the Spirit of Fire. Three teams were dealing with external hull, and others internal damage, Cyrene had traded data with Serina and sent a data attachment on extending her life cycle, Serina accepted and was now running better than ever.

The slip-space engines of the Spirit were impossible to replace, there was no large enough drive for the ship from Vince and his defence pack, and the engineers would take years to construct another from scratch.

Cutter was happy to know that they were not alone, but the shock of them knowing that the covenant had glassed Reach was a pin to the heart, most of the crew had family and friends and he himself now knew that…

"Reminiscing about something captain?" Serina asked.

"Not much, just never knew."

"I'm sorry; guess that we know that this was going to be a one way trip."

"We all knew, Serina, but to know the end."

"We can't do anything to change it, they've all gone."

"Well then, we still have something left."

"Yes we do."

The tactical officer alerted.

"Sir the New Dawn has alerted us, there is another signal in orbit, they set some subspace beacons to alert them for any approaching vessels, and there are now multiple signals that have arrived in system, different from the one we and them encountered."

A transmission from the New Dawn came through.

"Captain Cutter I believe it is time for our departure, we can't stay here there is another system not far, though it will take a few hours at best possible speeds, it maybe inhabited, most likely not the same species that is now in orbit, we'll cover your escape route."

"Right, we'll get to it."

The transmission ended.

The New Dawn powered up, lifting steadily from the ground, the ship accelerated as it gained altitude.

"Sir, do you wish for me to signal unknown?"

"Fine, contact the lead ship."

"Com channel is open." Cyrene said.

"This is UNSC New Dawn, to unknown ships, you have attack and pursued hostilities, remove yourself form this area, or we will be forced to defend ourselves."

A signal returned.

"Human filth, your alliance already has the Traverse to yourselves and now you want this area of space, you have no claim here, you are to surrender or die." The image had that of a four eyed alien with a very bad attitude.

"Sir picking up spike in energy from enemy fleet, magnetic fields, most likely MACs." Cyrene said.

"Well let's give them get our response to threats."

The New Dawn turned to face the oncoming fleet.

They fired on the New Dawn, though the shields quickly absorbed the fire, the inside began shaking from the exchange.

"Return fire." Jacob said.

The Dawns cannon returned the compliment with MAC shots, three solid slugs 600kg each propel across space at 50% the speed of light.

In the blink of an eye the pirate's ships scatter, several of their vessels blown into dust or severed cleanly by the slugs.

The commander of the ships panicked at the fire power and quickly ordered a retreat as their flagship was destroyed, their fleet turned about as the New Dawn continued to fire upon them.

Jacob watched as the ships eventually jumped to FTL.

"Bring us down to standby, tell the Spirit to move off world and head towards the designated marker." He ordered.

"Aye sir, message away."

XXXXX

Gathering at the jump point the Dawn and Spirit began their journey to the local system.

Cyrene and Serina began their search on the wrecks of the mysterious alien pirates; they discovered an interesting find, a material called Element Zero, the AI compiled some data on this with what they found on the alien ships, though there wasn't much left.

This and an interesting find of the galaxy they were in.

XXXXX

"So we're in an alternate universe?" Cutter asked.

"Parallel or alternate, you can always find a friendly human hating species." Serina said.

The conference room aboard the New Dawn was now in discussion.

"We can ask for assistance."

"From who, the humans on this side are not at war, it's not likely they'll just help because we ask." James said.

"Actually they might." Cyrene optimised.

"How would we get their help?" Jacob asked.

"Simple the Alliance is technically capable of allowing asylum for us or assisting us with our current situation, plus we have evidence, but the technology we have, shouldn't be allowed to fall into anyone's hands."

"And what would that reason be?" Cutter asked.

"The simple fact that I there are other factions within the alliance military, I have connected to their extranet and pursued a long system penetration of their database, and found some disturbing evidence.

And organisation called Cerberus, a human survivalist group founded on the belief of human improvement and dominance over other sentient life, they are highly xenophobic and extreme in the methods they use and implement. They have infiltrated the alliance and their governments as well as the population."

"So we hand our technology over to extremists who hate aliens?" Enders asked.

"We would be considering the situation, but I'd suggest nothing powerful or new, that would probably be our mass accelerator drives and weapons, the difference is large considering everything."

"Well then let's get to that relay and head to the alliance command, though they might be a bit hesitant on our arrival."

"You know we can always go to the citadel." Cyrene said.

"Then what, all we'd cause is mass confusion, the people will not react to well with a couple of heavily armed dreadnoughts and a small fleet of ships."

"Yes but we could appeal for assistance in our situation, though an AI does not have technically any rights, which I would like them to notice me." Cyrene said with an evil smile on her face.

"Cyrene, i don't think we need any more issues than we already have." Enders said.

"Well then, how long is the trip to Sol?"

"Nearly a week, but the trip to the citadel is much shorter, we would arrive in four days."

"So we vote, how says try initiating contact with the alliance in Sol?"

The officers from both ships put their hands up the count was 15/49.

"How says we contact with the citadel directly?"

Officers voted again with 19/49.

"Is there any alternative plans?"

Hands of only 6 went up.

"Fine then, we'll go to the citadel, but we should be cautious when we arrive." James said.

"All dismissed, back to your posts, we're heading in, in four days, shifts for officers and regulars in effect and crew." Jacob ended with.

XXXXX

The Spartan IV and II were chucked together on the New Dawn, and Haley and Anders were placed aboard the Spirit of Fire for continued research on the Forerunner ship.

The day went by quickly, though arriving at the system with the relay was a hassle, the New Dawn and Spirit of Fire had to synchronise the jump, it took a few minutes for Serina to get their position locked and ready.

The crew watched as they approached the relay, the fork like end and large blue coloured core seemed to get their attention.

Once there the ships began to accelerate and ran alongside the relay, picking up speed and energy they were slung forwards beyond FTL at an instance.

XXXXX

Jonathan and the Spartan II were talking about their program, though there was little to talk about, the program was similar on many bases but the different augmentations and adjustments made to their bodies seemed less extreme and more promising.

Jerome hand to learn some restraint with the covenant crew on board, there were a few elites and some engineers but the biggest surprise was just the hunters sitting in their own private room, Jerome had seen thing but a female trooper sharing a nice spot with an elite?

'Things do change fast.' He thought.

The same could be said for other members of the Spirit of Fire considering the covenant engineers were busy patching things up and rebuilding the damaged sections of the ship.

Captain Cutter never thought he'd ever see an engineer capable of doing things most of their engineers couldn't.

Though Serina was having an interesting time with an engineer which had decided to update her program, she did feel guilty about asking to change her clothes to a more elaborate style, scrolling through she found the thing she always wanted to wear.

XXXXX

4 days into their journey and it was nearly over, arriving in the serpent nebula the relay activated, the two ships came out of the range of the relay.

Now looking into the mist like nebula Captain Cutter asked.

"Serina where are we?"

She materialised, in something more casual, she had a smile on her face with her new black jeans and long white blouse, and she had small silver ear rings.

"Well Captain, we have arrived, though I doubt we can see anything just yet, we will be in visual in a few seconds."

No sooner than she finished, the ships came through the purplish mist and came into full view of the massive space station.

Jacob had heard of the battle of the Ark and the reports made of the large structure, but this stationed seemed unlike the forerunners, its arms more cylindrical rather than spread open, but still the immense size made it obvious.

"Cyrene have they greeted us yet?" Jacob asked.

"Yes, and there seems to be a welcoming committee on approach." She said.

The view of the citadel changed as a fleet of ships began forming in front; the winged ships of the citadel were seemingly much smaller than their own, but still had plenty of numbers.

And one large ship of the fleet seemed to be the only one on approach.

"Sir, we are receiving transmission from the citadel fleet."

"Put it through."

"Unknown ships state your intentions or we will open fire."

Jacob didn't need a more open invitation to reply.

"This is Captain Jacob Hartman of the UNSC New Dawn; we have arrived in system for assistance to ask government officials of human systems alliance or council for this specific aid."

The citadel fleet was surprised they hadn't expected a human vessel that large or that many asking for assistance, but what caught them off the most were the term 'UNSC', the council decided to hear these humans appeal, the human embassy was alerted and a certain ambassador with captain was to see the council on the developing situation.

The New Dawn and Spirit of Fire were granted a position to wait seeing as the two ships were far too large for any of the docks, sending over a shuttle, or in this case a large drop-ship to meet the delegates.

Though arriving on a landing pad, they stood out more than that of anyone else, especially the Spartans, greeting the guards and delegates, Captain Cutter and Jacob were unsure to how things were about to go.

A man in his 40s and another early 50s arrived to greet them.

"So you must be Captain Jacob?" The man in white clothes and grey hair said, his face was slightly frowning.

"Yes and this is captain Cutter, we're both commanders of the ships now at anchor." Jacob said curtly.

"I am ambassador Udina, and this is Captain Anderson." Udina said.

"Good to meet you." Anderson said with a handshake.

"Well you have placed us in a difficult position captains, the council is demanding an explanation to your arrival, and an explanation of your ships." Udina said gesturing at the massive ships.

"We do have an explanation, but that might be harder to explain to your council, we need some help but we cannot discuss this here." Jacob said.

"Fine, we'll discuss this at the embassy, but keep your soldiers at bay." Udina said pointing at the armoured Spartan soldiers.

(Sorry some asshole deleted part of the story we will not know all details.)

WIP not entirely finished and the work will continue with parts later.

I apologise about the end of the chapter, a part was deleted in school, no idea, and some jackass thought he was a genius.

Thing is should I have Serina with a romance?

The upcoming chapter (Wake me up tomorrow at sea) I have no idea how to approach, the infiltration was discovered by Serina and Cyrene, this is the reason for the jump around, we have less action at this point and just a little bit more build.

We will have Shepard and the Normandy.


	5. Chapter 5

Wake me up tomorrow… at sea

(It took 6 months but hey I'm back! Sorry for such the delay, this was supposed to be destroyed but, guess what? I've found an older copy lying in one of my school H-Drives which had the lost chapter. I went back and started a full rewrite to get this one finished, and also I'd like to thank a lot of other guys who's given me a great idea, and it won't involve the Chief yet… So we're going on to the future! Hope you guys enjoy and also this will be only one of a few, many more are still weeks back.)

XXXXX

The walk through the docks to the embassy was one thing Jacob had been kindly used to, when the covenant disbanded was the time when he had visited some worlds, this was not as different. Seeing as most of the area was packed for the arrival of the UNSC, many races clamouring to speak.

To captain Cutter he was having a difficulty adjusting quickly of the sights and sounds, the amount of alien species was not as threatening though which made him relax a little from the fact that he was not going to get attacked.

On the walk with the Spartan IV, the team were completely on the lookout but kept weapons on their holsters, the situation was not as different to an escort for an ambassador from sanghelios, but the fact was there were fewer things around them got them open eyes for possible snipers.

The Spartan II were having the most difficult time trying to adjust to the rapid changes, the sight of the aliens kept their eyes on everything, but their priority was defending the doctors and Thel'an, but Thel'an was unlikely of needing to protection.

Haley and Anders were discussing the alien structure around them, it was so different to see such things, and Anders had compared what the forerunner buildings were like and comparing them to the Covenant. It was a long debate as Haley discussed so much of the beauty of one forerunner world she visited; it was a garden world with much flora.

When they arrived at the embassies of the council races they headed straight for the human embassy.

XXXXX

Inside the embassy the entered the large pristine white rooms, Udina and Anderson began to ask questions to Cutter and Jacob.

"So what, is the specific reason for your arrival?" Udina asked.

Jacob decided to start his recount of events. "We're from an alternate universe, as hard as that may sound to believe, and unlikely of getting back home, the technology that allowed us to get here is damaged and highly unlikely of repairing anytime soon which is why we came here."

"Well, the council might ask you about this technology in your report, but why are you here specifically? Why not go to Alliance high command?" Anderson asked inquisitively.

"We came because we decided that a direct answer or direct permission would be better than waiting in dock at alliance command. Besides we have our reasons." Jacob stated cautiously.

"So this is just your way of getting our attention?"

"No and yes, we are here just to ask for permission for assistance on our situation, but also to appeal for…"

"Free reign within the galaxy as a separate race and power from the HSA?" Anderson asked.

"Not in the way that you'd imagine, we are cautious captain Anderson, there is high chance that your military has been corrupted as our intelligence had been very accurate. And we came to a decision to arrive here for a lot of precautions, there was a high chance that someone may try to access our technology." Jacob said.

"What nonsense, how could anyone infiltrate the entire alliance command structure without being detected?" Udina asked.

"How about infiltrating the government next to it, then paying off the structure and giving their agents access to your military and then filling the lining of corporate businesses to get them additional funds by instigation of conflicts?" Jacob deadpanned.

Udina was surprised that the captain knew more than he let on.

"We don't want to risk our technology falling into anyone else's hands, but we will appeal for assistance or asylum in council space or independence." He stated.

"So then you don't want a direct affiliation to the alliance?"

"No, that would not be advisable, but we still like to retain relations with humanity here."

"That could be possible; the alliance command may be able to be lenient your way but many officers won't be happy, if you can change the scales of support." Anderson said.

"That would help, but I still don't like the fact that there's a chance our tech could fall into the worst possible hands, no race had yet proven that they can be trusted, so we'll only trust those who we know best." He replied.

"Well we better head to the council chambers soon; we have the report and an explanation to give." Udina said.

XXXXX

Council tower

The walk up the tower was simple it was a straight turn to the right of the presidium down the walkway overlooking the lake, it was then that they headed straight for the tall spire. The talk with the council was not as simple though. Moving along the stairs the group arrived to face an interesting scene, a dozen guards and a spectre standing in front of the council.

The delegates, who were Captain Cutter and Jacob with Thel'an, were the main people the council wished to speak to.

Moving forwards the council began the meeting.

"This session of the council is now active in welcome Captain Hartman and Cutter and greetings to Commander Thel'an. Your appeal for assistance has been heard, though we are confused as to your arrival." The asari councillor said.

Cutter decided he would answer the question for his ship.

"Thank you councillor, my crew and it's reasons for arrival was due to an anomalous energy well my ship encountered, as to how we decided to exit, our strategy was calculated to a simple push, arriving here is nearly impossible to explain, so I'd let my ships AI explain." He said, as he didn't realise the look on the faces of the councillors.

But before they could speak, Serina took to the stage, materialising on the holographic projector for communications Serina entered.

"Well greeting councillors, I am Serina…" She never did finish.

"An AI, what… sec…" The turian councillor was just about to panic.

"Calm down, I'm solely here just for the explanation of my ship and crew." She said the turian councillor simply shut up.

"Well seeing as the niceties are well and truly gone, yes, I am an AI of my ship, but I'm only here to represent myself and crew."

Anderson and Udina was not sure as to how they should react, the AI was in the plain open area and scaring the council and security. The asari councillor recovered fast enough to ask.

"So you are the representative for your kind?" She asked carefully.

"Yes, and no, I just represent my crew and my fellow AI and androids, though Cyrene is in the rear."

"An android, you have an android?" The salarian asked.

"Damien is a single android, but he is like us, as organic, but not as personified."

"But he is under control, isn't he?"

"Of course, well he does have freedom we make sure to check on him, now are we going back to topic or do we have to dance about other topics for the next 5 minutes?"

"Alright, back to your call for assistance, we will need to consider your asylum, however if the alliance is willing to provide assistance you may choose to consider a position with the alliance." Maelon the salarian stated.

"It's alright, as much as we like to join the rest of humanity, we would rather remain neutral, or somewhat independent, the UNSC is willing to remain a neutral power as well as an independent one."

The turian councillor managed to recover his manhood just enough to ask. "There is however, a need to identify any hazardous technology you may be carrying and weaponry. You and your kind are different that doesn't take a genius to figure out, which is why we would like at least time to go over reports for some of your technology or proof."

Serina looked not too surprised. "We will provide relevant data and information, but there is no chance we will be willing to give our technology to you, there are something that needed to be learnt by yourself if you ever felt like it, and only Captain Jacob and Cutter may be given approval of such technological information to be disclosed."

The salarian asked again. "Is there a chance that some information to your arrival is given to us, so we may be able to understand your situation?"

"Yes we have already prepared a proper report that you would be able to refer to one that would simplify the mechanics of our arrival."

"Very well, we will see to it that you and your crew remain welcome guests within the Citadel until another meeting can be decided upon, as evidence is needed to be considered."

"Thank you for your hospitality." Serina said before vanishing.

"Right, we will stay at distance, until our next meeting." Jacob said, before courteously dismissing himself.

"This meeting of the council is now adjourned." Tevos stated.

Serina jumped back to the ship, with almost every eye watching her, the local CNN-Council News Network broadcasting the amazing events to the whole galaxy.

XXXXX

Udina and Anderson were both talking as they returned to the embassy; they turned to talk to Jacob and Cutter.

"Are you mad? Brining an AI to the council chambers, we could have had a 'political shits storm'."

"Well we didn't, and I would have thought you would have at least been a little more supportive to our situation, however all of this, it's been done, so you need to get over it, we have more pressing matters at hand."

Udina looked as though he could pout about this all day.  
"The council will continue our meeting in about a few days and go over any information you can provide them with, though if you want independence, they'll be happy to oblige you."

The captains left the room, with their retinue of Spartans, they'd head to their own things soon enough. The captains had alerted the ships to scan for anything out of the ordinary from here on in including civilian transports.

Cutter wished to send the 10,000 crewmen off for shore leave, but Jacob went against the idea, if his gut feelings were correct, that would only stir trouble. It was then decided that he'd send his special force team of Helldivers off for a break along with any Spartan that wished to take an observation of the citadel.

XXXXX

Helldivers- Disclaimer to StTheo of Deviant Art who permitted the use of suits, and to Bandai and Sunrise for other character names, I was bored.

Soren Ibrahim- Commander of the helldivers 21st, he's a hard boiled marine since his recruitment over 9 years ago, he is also one of the youngest ever recruited, having some of his augmentations at the age of only 12. He wears a full striker gear and night frame designed suit. ACA01 Striker

Lyle Delany- Second Lieutenant of the squad, he happens to be the sharp shooter of the force and carries a SR-MA-Judgement Scope-X99. He is cold and calculating, but also a sharp marine with years of combat experience, he has a number of ranged weapons. He wears SSC02 type long ranged scout armour.

Kyle Delany- First Lieutenant of the squad, he is the best long ranged sniper and twin brother to Lyle, he is considered to be nothing short of amazing. He wears the SSC01 Scout armour with hood and reflective armour and shield emitters, he is stealthy in almost every mission, there is little to know of his demeanour though.

Allen Uren Haptic- Sargent Major, his demeanour is very vibrant as he finds no middle ground to what he finds purpose in fighting for. He is a CQC expert and a brilliant pilot. His suit is an ACA, medium Assault Combat Armour.

Tierra Erred- Major, a deep thinking tactician, he commands most of the squad in battle and carries the heaviest weapons. Cropped purple hair and green eyes, light skin and a very lanky build, he wears a HBA/01 Demo class armoured combat suit, it is pale in design and has the UNSC Helldivers printed on the shoulder guard. He carries a TMMG Custom MMG- Medium Machine Gun:

Equipment Specs-

MMG  
9.52mm AP/AT/APIT Rounds  
ACOG 3x optical zoom  
Sat Tar System IR  
Belt feed

TPMK6  
Breaching pad  
Magnetic Bayonet Claymore M140  
Flash Grenade munitions  
Frag/Incendiary 

SCS- Tactical pad  
AIISCS AI smart system input for tactical operations in battle 

This was the squad to leave the ship, they and Spartans were to head on about around the Citadel, it was though that the C-sec members almost staggered back in fear when they witnessed the walking marines with death masks and combat suits, they had enough weapons to start a small war.

C-sec asked for them to remove their weapons, but Soren dismissed them and only asked Tierra to set his heavy weapon down at the ship, when he came back he carried a long barrelled LMG with grenade launcher.

"Look sir, we…"

"No offence, but the Citadel council has yet to include our weapons, on top of which I might add that we are military personnel, so I'd suggest that you stop interfering with our shore leave." Soren budged past.

The other helldivers followed him without even noticing the turian officer stand there and gape at the sheer size of the troopers, he couldn't do a thing to stop them, and they were damned taller than him by a full head or two.

He reported the situation to the council and stated that the helldivers were heading to the wards.  
More C-sec officers arrived down to patrol the situation, but it seemed as though nobody in their right mind dared to approach the 5 heavily armed individuals.

They went down past the lines of shops, some of them going to see what were for interest, and there was also a group of UNSC marines accompanying them. They split off into groups and joined back every so often, the C-sec teams jumped to follow each group.

It was only when after 3 hours they arrived at Chora's Den, a marine named Lazoroski suggesting that they enjoy some local ale, the group arrived there in number, the marines and their helldiver compatriots except Tierra took some seats at the bar.

"Hey got any good drinks?" Lazo asked.

"Depends, how strong can you handle?" The turian bartender replied.

"Anything that a human can take will be fine for me." He replied.

"Okay, 7 shots of Nova Ale, on the house."

"Huh?"

"Well you guys are from the report on the arrival of your ships? Some alternate universal thing?"

"Ah that, yeah that's us." He replied.

"Well this ones on the house for you guys, just our hospitality for newcomers of the galaxy." He replied.

"Thanks mate." Lazo said.

The marines enjoyed the drinks, with a couple ordering something else, C-sec was watching on the other end of the bar, the Spartans and Tierra standing around. It was only a few minutes later that something happened.

A slightly rowdy male started getting agitated over an argument of the first contact war.  
"Look here you scale faced prick, the council only buttered us up because they wanted to avoid any so called issues with the war, if it hadn't been be-…"

The equally drunk turian replied.  
"We didn't know, the council forced the hierarchy to consider a passive gesture and made us give up the fight even though we didn't think to do so…"

Their argument became a little rough only minutes later with the human grabbing the garb of the other being that was when Lazo went over and asked.  
"Something wrong gentlemen?"

"This scale face prick won't admit it was his race that started the first contact war."

"Well it wasn't you stuck up moron."

"Okay, so how about you two just sober up before I put you both down?" He gripped their shoulders hard.

That was when the drunk slung his fist wide, Lazo had been in bar fights before, he ducked and kicked the stomach of the drunk and kneeled him to the floor and did the same to the turian, they both went out like lights.

"Is there any place to get these two idiots sobered?" He asked.

The bartender pointed to the bathroom, and then watched as a couple of patrons moved them off, the marine sat back down and ordered another round.  
C-sec made the report and checked on the other patrons, they were happy to see that no one else got hurt, or the UNSC marine beat the two into bloody pulps.

"So who want's ice cream?" Lazo asked his two other friends.

XXXXX

Miranda Lawson watched in absolute humour at the sight, she sat just opposite to the sight and drank her asari wine without so much as missing a beat. Thee UNSC marines were alright in her books if not rough on the edge and absolutely blunt.

She kept her eyes on them and their compatriots; they blended into the crowd almost well, except the death masked soldiers with odd shaped visors and armaments. They looked as terrifying as an army of blood thirsty krogan.

She could tell that some of those soldiers were augmented and definitely experienced, the other soldiers were experienced but they weren't augmented, not in any form significant as far as she could tell, but they had some long history.

She'd report this to the Illusive Man as soon as possible, this group of people are an interest in his case, and they've clearly gotten access to some significant technology. And besides, she liked to know that there was at least someone she could relate to, on the more personal level.

XXXXX

Back on the ship, Thel'an and his comrades were discussing their situation, and if it was necessary to include all of them as part of the UNSC or as their own separate force. Thel was happier just to call them as a separate force, due to their unique situation.

"Well if we're to call ourselves not part of the UNSC, then shall we go as the New Covenant?" Bariee asked.

"That does sound reasonable, however we are sharing a ship, maybe we should ask Captain Jacob to let us use one of our own, I'm sure that our presence here may cause some concern to the council, if we do declare our independence as the New Covenant." Thel suggested.

They all murmured in agreement, except the Ungoggy.  
"But sir, what about us, don't we get to say anything?"

"What about you?"

"We'd like to be part of the New Covenant, but we're still part of the major work crew for the lower decks, is there compensation or a union cut if we're to leave?" One smart grunt asked.

"Well that depends, are you on work choices or just union?"

They all looked and asked the 2000+ crew and said.

"Work choices by a majority."

"Well you'll have to go see Captain Jacob for that, we only have Union here."

"Damn." They all said.

XXXXX

Serina looked at her new attire; she got it out of one of the older 2550s catalogue from a Crewman Jones who let her flick through the categories manually. She had already gone through a dozen sets and now she found one she liked, it was a long sleeve with smooth form fitting sleeves with frilly braces, and there was a short shirt underneath and a black pair of tight trousers, she liked it.

It was only such a shame that almost all the Spirit's engineers kept staring at her; she liked the attention, but not the constant ogling of her. She still had no idea what she wanted to wear; she went over another set, which was labelled 'swimwear'.

It was only when she began to put on the category clothes that she instantly regretted it.

"CREWMAN JONES!" She screamed.

(Lucky Crewman…)

XXXXX

Shore party 2 left the loading bay and headed for the nearest market to look for a small set of materials required for the ship, they ran out of iridium and a lot of repair metals required for a full maintenance of the ship. They were only out for 5 minutes before they were swamped for deals.

The market became very crowded in the wards as the team moved along, one psychic they had, had to move everyone out by pushing them with her barrier seeing as she constantly had to shove. They visited the 3rd shop with no luck; they were far too pricy on quantity rather than quality.

Kale had almost enough of scraping in with nothing; he even had a credit chit to pay for materials. The group continued on along the rows of shops, he grumbled frustratingly.

"Why can't there be a simple low to medium priced shop that isn't owned by one race or another?"

His sangheili bond brother Korsee replied with a low chuckle.  
"Possibly because were in the lower reaches of the more quaint civilian light, these people are no better than scavengers in our eyes, but then again, they haggle just as good as any Jackal."

They both laughed, the reality of such standards was quite rare, and now they found a place literally packed with vultures of all kinds. (If you know what the actual Jackal race is then you'll know what they're talking about.)

They paused as they noticed a bit of a scene, three people with a small group gathered.  
"I'm telling you, we didn't steal anything." A fully suited woman yelled.

"And I'm telling you that you did, there was no way that those new Omni-chips could have gone missing, the shipment was in my shop over an hour ago." A turian shopkeeper yelled.

Korsee and Kale approached the group and asked.  
"What is the situation?"

The female in the enviro-suit replied.  
"This turian is accusing me and my friends of stealing a small group of new Omni-tool upgrades."

And the turian replied angrily.  
"That's because you did, one moment as soon as those boxes arrived and I stacked them on the sides and have to go see a customer and you come in and then while I'm busy then goes out, and then I go check on the box and it isn't there."

"That's because we were looking." Another suited being woman replied.

The C-sec officer in charge stated.  
"That's all they've said, but this shouldn't be your business, all new races shouldn't be intervening in matters like this."

"Well we'll see about that. Where is the shop?" Koress asked.

The turian pointed about a dozen feet away, Kale then asked.  
"Where is the place this shipment came from?"

"Over at the far back next to binary helix, it's an open warehouse for materials." He explained.

"Okay then, we'll be back in a moment." The two said.

They walked away, then they had the others search the shop and they'd go check the warehouse. When they arrived they were greeted by an asari who was working the terminal.

"Welcome to Inter Space Shipment how can I help you?"

Kale stated.  
"We're looking for a box of Omni chips, you wouldn't have happened to have seen a crate filled with them have you?"

"Hmm…" She checked the terminal and went through.  
"There's one that's been marked as went through, but there's a bit of a… oh, the box is still here, it says an extra order on components 2-2231-series 5 went through instead, the box is still on the shelf over there, I guess the buyer must have forgot."

"Thanks, that's very much appreciated, we'll be going now." Kale thanked.

As soon as they got back with the whole group they went over and explained.  
"The asari at the shipment terminal just said an extra cargo came in for you, the box you're speaking about is still in the warehouse."

The turian looked slightly embarrassed and said.  
"Oh, well these quarians could have stolen it."

"Okay I'll close this situation and just put a report in vagrancy, you'll need to find a place to stay and soon." He gestured to the quarians.

Koress had seen much injustice, but these people were being ridiculous.  
"Now wait a moment, you accuse these people of theft and have no hard evidence…" He pushed the turian to his glowing grey eyes.

He then jabbed the human in the chest with his finger.  
"And you as a person of law for the civilian population only charge them for being here and being accused without even lifting a finger?" He growled.

"How about I pull you in for obstruction of justice?" He threatened.

Koress growled deeper.  
"You just try it with the commander of a special operations force."

"Oh son of a…" He walked away.

The quarian looked at Kale and Koress.  
"Thank you, I know that you two went through so much trouble to help."

"No problem, we're Kale and Koress Ionremaree; we noticed that you and your friends were in a bit of trouble."

"I'm glad that you helped, I'm Tali Zorah Nar'Rayya. And those are my fellow quarians." She gestured to the 3 others.

"So do any of you know any good place that sells iridium?"

XXXXX

(We meet Tali and a lot of other new faces, next coming are the meeting with the council, hope to see you guys there!)

There are also new characters to come in the future of the story, but you'll just have to wait.


	6. DISC

Notice of Discontinued: Period

As of today, this series will be ended, I have regretted to say this because I honestly did not wish to give up such potential for a story, but time is running out for me and I have work to get done, and I'm getting too tired trying to write for all these stories in my HSC timetable.

This is now discontinued and will be left unfinished, anyone who wishes to take on this story has now my expressed permission, I hope that you do better with it and continue my work to the best of your own ability, and please remember to ask me and I'll grant you permission.

These are my final works for this chapter and it's plot, you can base it off what I have here and use it, I'll be discrete in revealing too much, and you can alter it in anyway shape and form.

Halo/ME: Tomorrow's Embrace

CH6: Going Fishing

The chapter was to continue on from the last chapter, with the UNSC members off the ship who had gone to go about return from their eventful trip; they did gather some intelligence and supplies of their own. The TIM speaks to Miranda about her report, and the council is to meet with the officers one last time before they leave the option of having council observers is put forwards, I let it happen.

CH7

The crew go to Reach, and Cutter faces his ghosts, the Spartans are paying their respects and we have a lot of interesting things to go with. And we have a brief cameo with Samara and Nihlus in the course of things. Do not forget that TIM try's to search for where the ship has gone.

CH8

Serina, does have an interesting run in with a certain elite, and thus begins our romance for her, Captain Jacob is to face with the Quarian Migrant Fleet sometime soon, and a rescue operation is sent to locate the Idenna with Tali on board it. The big impact from the UNSC upon the council citizens as they go around clearing up a number of pirate infested systems, and the HSA begins their own plans to involve the UNSC.

CH9

Continuing on from the last chapter, the only difference is Serina in android form and a rather long discussion.

CH10

Cerberus makes a move to get the UNSC on their side, Serina completes her understanding of relationships when she breaks Thel'an, and Tali is greeted by the crew to their family, Reach base is being built, and the covenant use of teleporters are soon operations in the base, and we have planned ODPs for the area.

CH11

The Nova Terra Asteroid incident occurs and the UNSC sends all available ships to save the colony, the Spirit is holding off Batarian pirates nearby, and the Spartans are in a race against time, they have to breach the defences with whatever they have, and bring out the Cobra.

CH12

Continuing from CH11

CH13

Ending the Terra Nova threat, the batarians are chased away and the planet is saved, and Wrex comes to stay! We have Cerberus intent with gaining favour from the UNSC, and they plan to get them on their side again, this time with Miranda leading the effort.

CH14

The continued defeats of the batarians sets the fact that the UNSC won't be beaten and the pirates are chased down significantly, the UNSC are seen as hero's and the council rewards them. Tevos has a special encounter with Jacob and there begins our second relationship.

CH15

Continued from 14, the TIM and Miranda meet with Cutter and Jacob, Anders leaves on a break with Haley to get some coffee and it soon becomes a chase for a coffee thief, and we have the deeper secrets of the reapers coming to town.

CH16

Saren makes his cameo, and the TIM offer Jacob and Cutter a chance to help both sides, this is an interesting development and I don't actually know how to finish. This continues on from the past chapter and we have something rather interesting coming ahead.

This is the near halfway mark, and because all these chapters are supposed to be at least 5000 words, if not then try and get there.

These are all the chapters afterwards in a rough description:

CH17

Jorge arrives with an old friend, Dot. We get to see how the outcome of your decision is… for Cerberus.

CH18

Tali, makes a very interesting interlude with the AI's and their shared arguments and beliefs.

CH19

We meet up with the crew as they travel through the Terminus systems and arrive at Omega in search of a certain retired mercenary

CH20

Massani for the win, here we have an old friend with a great sense of humour and we also have another interesting friend, a thief comes aboard and the crew goes after her.

CH21

Kasumi makes her appearance, and then disappears, but not before a very annoyed Japanese Spartan has something to say to her, and so she's caught.

CH22

Continued on from the last chapter

CH23

Continued on from last chapter

CH24

We meet with an number of neutral ships which want to join the UNSC, the colonists believe that it would be a welcome thing for all to be part of their neutral force. The alliance asks for help in developing the Normandy SR-1, Dot and a few others go to investigate and support for this project while the council keeps a firm eye on things.

CH25

The crew encounter a pirate raid on a planet, the crew save the colonists, or what's left and take them to Reach

CH26

Tali soon discovers deactivated geth in a black market on Omega, and she begins to ask around on where they came from

CH27

Continued from previous chapter, Tali investigates with a slip-space prowler at her disposal and a team

CH28

Nearly being captured the team makes a desperate escape for the exit from the Perseus Veil

CH29

Tali arrives at the Migrant Fleet to tell them off a great danger on approach and the fleet goes into contact the UNSC

CH30

The geth are returning and the UNSC soon plans to confront them, the Migrant Fleet ask for protection from possible attack and Jacob calls in for a special project, the artefact is still disabled but it does have the ability to produce portals, the fleet is sent to the Eridanus II system to remain in hiding

CH31

Jacob asks the quarians to consider trying to leave their world behind and join them on their own, an offer for a cure to their condition and even an incentive to live on the planet seems to gain favour from the quarian people as the war begins with the geth

CH32

The attack on Eden Prime and the beginning of Mass Effect: 1

You guys make it up as you go now, the Normandy will have help from the UNSC, and the ship's will support and supply the Spartan and marine team aboard the Normandy, Commander Sara Shepard is part of the crew…

CH33

The Normandy makes its way to the Citadel and we meet with Garrus, his run in with the UNSC in the past entices him to join.

CH34

Continued from the main story line, we have Tali, who gets caught up in a near crossfire while getting back to the ship, if to clarify…

CH35

Saren and the geth, and we have the Therum Mission

CH36

Is falling for an android good? Joker learns that having Cyrene isn't so bad, as her android form makes her look far more appealing. And we bring out another AI, Aegis Unit 7…

CH37

Continued on from previous chapter

CH38

The Battle for Feros, and the encounter with the Thorian, gets the Cobra running, and the Cougar APC

CH39

Continued

CH40

Battle for Noveria

CH41

Continued

CH42

Citadel reprieve, and our first and most annoying reporter, and our second more trustful one

CH43

Joker and Cyrene get along just fine, and Shepard gets a winter's break, it's been one year anniversary since being on the Normandy and fighting the geth

CH44

Virmire (do I need to say anymore?)

CH45

The push to the Conduit and the attack, the Normandy has a new slip-space drive and makes her jump into the battle.

CH46

The final confrontation with Saren

CH47

Epilogue

XXXXX

The next story after this was to include:

Halo Mass Effect: Infinite Embrace (ME2)

CH1

The return of a legend, the Commander is found by the forerunners and is being prepared for her Ascension to their powers

Master Chief and Cortana are found near the Normandy, the crew survive the attack and reveal that they're part of the UNSC and soon the chief joins the crew with the other Spartans!

Halo Mass Effect: Eternity's Grasp (ME3)


End file.
